The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The city administration has told residents to take preventative measures to curb the spread of dengue fever in their homes and neighborhoods.
"Even though the outbreak is expected to reach its peak in April next year, people must anticipate an attack of Aedes aegypti mosquitoes as early as possible," Salimar Salim, the deputy head of the city's health agency, said Wednesday.
She told people to drain or dispose of potential breeding places for mosquito larvae, including water tanks and cans.
The Cilandak Barat subdistrict in South Jakarta and the Duren Sawit subdistrict in East Jakarta have recorded the highest number of dengue fever cases this month, Salimar said.
The agency last month declared 41 subdistricts "red zones" after at least three cases of dengue fever were recorded in each.
The agency has instructed community health centers to report cases of dengue fever in their areas, Salimar said.
"We have also supplied medicine to city-owned hospitals and asked them to provide 200 additional beds each in anticipation of a sharp increase in dengue fever patients," she said.
"At the moment we have enough beds and medicine in the city's hospitals because there has not been a significant increase in dengue fever patients," she said.
Cilandak Barat subdistrict chief Hazahrudin said that in anticipation of a possible dengue fever outbreak he had instructed residents to clean their homes regularly as part of the Friday Clean Program.
He said his office had deployed 150 volunteers to inspect people's houses for mosquitoes and mosquito larvae.
Some 58,000 people reside in the subdistrict.
"We hope our efforts will be sufficient to reduce the number of dengue cases here," he said
Data from the agency shows that the highest number of dengue fever cases recorded in the capital this year was in April with 5,133 cases. Almost 30,000 cases of the illness were reported between January and October, with 81 deaths. (ewd).
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